Tuesday, November 19, 2013

In the Holiday Spirit...

Maybe it's the "mix-mas" music playing on our local station....maybe it's that cool "smell" in the air blowing around outside....whatever it is, and whether we're ready for it or not, the holiday season is, or at least will be, upon us. My sister in law has been watching the Hallmark channel all this past week which has just drenched it's programming with holiday spirit. Maybe i'm starting too early, but I've got all kinds of memories playing around in my head right now. All of my earliest memories revolve around Kentucky State Parks. My First Christmas was spent on a Kentucky State Park, my first "white" Christmas was experienced on a Kentucky State Park, and I think even the first time I sat on Santa's lap was at a Kentucky State Park.

One of the traditions that I enjoyed the most with my family was picking out a Christmas tree for our house. For years we'd buy a beautiful Christmas tree with the root ball still intact so my father could plant it somewhere on the park after Christmas. You could still see a few of these trees in and around the park where we used to live. My mother always supported this up until the Christmas of, if I can remember correctly, 1984 or so. We had selected a long leaf pine, I think it was a scotch pine if I remember correctly. Mom loved the smell a scotch pine would give off, especially in a nice warm house during the Christmas season. I only wish I had pictures of how beautiful that tree looked. All the bright colorful lights, the homemade decorations that my mother had collected over the years, and not to mention all the wonderful gifts that accumulated under the tree as we approached Christmas morning. To be quite honest though, I can't remember a single thing that i got that year for Christmas, but I do remember what we all found in our living room that morning. As always, my brother and I would be the first ones up so we could see what was under the tree for us. I opened the door and ran out and there, in our living room, were hundreds, possibly even thousands of teeny, tiny.....bugs. Our large picture window was just filled with small, green bugs. Bugs on our family pictures. Bugs all over the coffee table. Bugs all over our presents! Upon further inspection, these bugs were not just any little green, creepy crawly, but the terrifying, lethal, praying mantis, or at least that's how it played out in my mind. Now I of course was raised by a naturalist, and while at 8 or 9 years old, I respected all the little creatures of the forest, but praying mantis? It still sends shivers up my spine today. They were literally
Terror on Christmas morn'
everywhere. Once my mother was up and aware of what was going on, the great mantis removal was underway. Hand fulls being thrown outside, towels harvesting as many as they could hold. My father, all the while trying to save as many as he could from a "squashed" fate. We had mantis's.....manti....whatever the plural would be for not only the rest of December but all the way up through January and beyond. Once things had calmed down we began to give the tree a good once over to try and figure out what had happened. There upon one of the branches was the empty egg sack that no doubt had gotten a jump start from the warm temperature inside of our humble abode. My mother was a really good sport about it. Had this ever happened to my wife....well....there's no doubt that she would have never set foot in that house again. I'm just glad my parents don't live in the house anymore, because I'd probably even have a hard time getting her in there today.

Everyone out there has there own memories of Christmas. Maybe another time I'll tell you about the Christmas I got my first "Power Wheel"...all I'll say is that if you ever get one for your child....make sure you teach him how it works BEFORE they hop on it. (Needless to say, our Christmas tree never stood quite right after that) With that said, I'd like to ask everyone to check back often as I'll be updating the blog to reflect all the wonderful holiday festivities happening here at Blue Licks. Including a visit from Father Christmas himself, to our dinner theaters and new years events and more! As always....get out there and enjoy your state parks!! And hey, if you'd like to share a story with me about your memorable experience at a Kentucky State Park, please feel free to share. Email me HERE.